Boston Area 2015 - Day 5

May 26, 2015 Bedford, Providence

First stop for the day was the New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park. There was plenty of metered street parking in the area, as well as a couple of parking decks. The meters let you pay via credit card, which was nice.

Seamen's Bethel

The video at the visitor center was very good. There were also some other displays at the visitor center. After exploring the visitor center, we headed down by the water. Interesting fact: scallops make New Bedford the number one fishing port in the country in terms of the dollar value of its catch.

 The Seamen’s Bethel is near the water. Seamen’s Bethel is referenced in Herman Melville’s book Moby-Dick. The building was constructed in 1832. Every year the Bethel hosts a 25 hour Moby-Dick reading marathon. We were told that if you last for the entire reading you receive a free copy of the book.

Scrimshaw at New Bedford Whaling Museum

Our next stop was the highly recommended New Bedford Whaling Museum.  It was $14 for adults, but there was a 10% discount for AAA members. The content of the museum was very in depth.  My favorite part was viewing the scrimshaw. Scrimshaw is scrollwork, engravings, and/or carvings done in bone or ivory. Personally, I did not greatly enjoy the museum. 

Next on the docket – Roger Williams National Memorial. Roger Williams’ left England with his wife because he disliked the religious turmoil. Williams fought for the idea that religion should not be subject to state regulations, but should be a matter of individual conscience. Williams’ was a minister in Salem, but his separatist beliefs forced him out of Massachusetts. He settled in Providence and ultimately created a colony. 

Rhode Island Capitol Building

Another capitol building is checked off our list – Providence, Rhode Island. The capitol is neoclassical in style. The current State House is the seventh in the state’s history and was constructed from 1895 to 1904.

Our last stop in Rhode Island was one of the stops for the somewhat new Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor. There are many different locations to visit along the corridor. We visited the Pawtucket location. There was a nice video at the visitor center. The area of the visitor center was a little sketchy (lots of people lingering waiting for buses). Along the river was the original mill dating back to 1793!

Minute Man Statue

Heading north, we arrived at the Minute Man National Historical Park. The video at the visitor center is good. There is a lovely trail that connects many locations throughout the park. It was 90+ degrees outside so we opted to park at a few of the parking areas hand opt for a short walk rather than a couple of mile walk. Unfortunately, many of the buildings that we thought would be open were not – apparently we arrived a few weeks early. We did not make it inside of the North Bridge Visitor Center before it closed, but we were able to walk to the bridge and enjoy the beautiful flowers.

We stayed at the Best Western Plus Chelmsfords Inn, was okay...but I do not know what was so Plus about it, the room was probably not at nice as the standard Best Westerns that we stayed at earlier in the trip.